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“Right. So she needs the HR to work on reinstating me. The church offices are closed all week, so it will be the second day of January before they get back to the office.”
“We will pray about this,” Dad said. “If God wants you to have this new job, then He will clear all the obstacles for you and make your path smooth.”
“Thank you, Dad.”
“Let’s pray right now.”
Everyone bowed their heads as Dad prayed for God’s perfect will to prevail over Maggie’s potential new job.
After they prayed, Mom had a question. “Are both of Lydia’s kids home for Christmas?”
“Not Oliver. He’s still out there somewhere serving the country.” Maggie knew that Mrs. Kim’s eldest son was a Navy SEAL and that nobody in church knew what he did exactly. “Iseul is home though, waiting for news from her older brother.”
“When you see Lydia, tell her that I’m thinking of her and that we should have tea sometime when I go to Atlanta or she goes to Lakeside.” Mom reached over and grabbed some chips from Dad’s bag. Her hand appeared on Dad’s window.
“Will do,” Maggie said.
“So you’re technically in between jobs?” Malachi asked.
“Looks like it.”
“You want to come to Lakeside Chapel and volunteer for a few days?” Leave it to Malachi to recruit volunteers.
“Sure can. I’m driving down to Lakeside tomorrow and will stay until Sunday. Then I have to come home that day after church. I need to rest a day and prepare for my meeting with Mrs. Kim and paperwork with HR on Tuesday.”
“I don’t want you driving seven hours alone,” Dad said. “Does anyone else need a few days off who can go with you?”
Maggie thought of Levi, but wasn’t sure if the warehouse was open this week. In the past, sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t. All she knew was that the Village was still operational since this was an important business season. Only the main church offices were closed until the new year.
Maggie heard the doorbell. “Hold on a second. Someone’s at the door.”
She knew who it was, but she hadn’t had a chance to tell Mom and Dad about dating Levi. They sort of knew who Levi was—that he was Malachi’s friend from church. He was also Maggie’s friend, but Malachi had first dibs because three years ago when Levi started working at the church warehouse, Malachi recruited him to go on a disaster relief mission trip when a severe hurricane hit Florida’s Emerald Coast.
So, he would always be known as Malachi’s friend to Mom and Dad, even though Maggie worked with Levi at church more than Malachi had.
Sure enough, when Maggie checked the security video, she saw that Levi was standing outside. She knew he was coming over to pick her up so they could go to the Christmas luncheon together.
She unlocked the front door to let Levi in.
“Merry Christmas!” He hugged her.
“Merry Christmas?—”
Uh oh.
She had forgotten to mute her tablet in the kitchen or face the camera in another direction. She turned and, sure enough, she could see the window—the bottom right quadrant of the split screen—showing her and Levi hugging.
“PDA already?” Malachi’s laughter was loud and boisterous. He was slapping his thighs so hard.
“Who is that?” Mom asked rather loudly.
Dad was peering into the camera, as if that helped.
“My family,” Maggie said to Levi. “This is how we’re celebrating Christmas this year. All remote, all online.”
“I’m here in person,” Levi whispered in her ear and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek.
“I saw that!” Mom said over the tablet speakers.
